Following petition filed by human rights groups, Jerusalem court
issues injunction against deportation of South Sudanese migrants due
to security situation in African country

The Jerusalem Magistrates´ Court issued an injunction Thursday
against the expulsion of migrants from South Sudan before April 15.
The injunction followed a petition filed by human rights groups
against the Interior Ministry´s decision not to renew the migrants´
protective status, which expires Sunday.

The State will be asked to address the petition calling to extend the
protective status of asylum seekers.

The petitions, filed by the Organization for Aiding Refugees and
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, among other organizations,
claimed that deporting the migrants to South Sudan at this time may
put them in harm´s way.

Pini Avivi, the Foreign Ministry´s deputy director general, sent a
letter to the Population and Immigration Authority asking that it
delay the migrants´ deportation by a few weeks to give the ministry
ample time to prepare its recommendations. A Foreign Ministry
official was expected to return from South Sudan on Thursday.

The Interior Ministry said it plans to "act in accordance with the
government´s decision regarding the South Sudanese refugees and
return them to their country."

The refugee aid groups said the Foreign Ministry´s request "supports
the organizations´ position, which led to a public struggle against
the migrants´ expulsion due to the severe deterioration of the
humanitarian and security situation in South Sudan in recent months."